


Danganronpa 54: Light in the Dark

by Pen_And_Dagger



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Everyone is crazy...kinda, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 20:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11745006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pen_And_Dagger/pseuds/Pen_And_Dagger
Summary: New schoolNew studentsNew headmasterSame game





	1. Pre-Prologue

The sun shined bright as I stood outside the gates, marveling at the grand building before me. It was, in a word, powerful, in reputation and in presence. Future Light Academy. Graduation from this school was a one way ticket to a successful future. In some cases, students were already successful when they first arrived. 

The academy was known to bring together the best in the world. The smartest, the strongest, the most artistic, you name it, there's a good chance they were here or currently are. It was intimidating to enter such a prestigious place to say the least. No matter, I'll just have to work hard to show I'm truly supposed to be here! 

I guess that gives me the obligation to say who I am. My name is Saki Tsukino. According to the letter I received, I've been accepted here as the Ultimate Origamist. A talent for folding paper might not be all that impressive compared to whoever my classmates will be, but I'm proud of it anyway. There are probably plenty of others with talents as subtle as mine, and that’s definitely encouraging. What I really want to do is meet my classmates and figure out what their stories are. There are probably plenty of interesting stories about how their talents came to be, and plenty of nice people to talk to! 

I confess, I looked online for an idea of who I'd be spending my time with at this academy. The rumors floating around online were nothing short of incredible. The youngest pyrotechnics expert to get proper licensing, a girl with an innate knack for all things chocolate, an animal doctor that works miracles, the list goes on and on. I was even mentioned a couple times! It was a bit strange to see complete strangers talking about me, but their kind words were flattering. 

Anyway, standing here staring at the facade like a fangirl isn't going to help me get to know any of these interesting people. There's only one way to do that, and that's to go in and see who's there. I refold the letter and put it back in its envelope before taking the plunge and opening the large wood doors. The entrance was as grand as the outside. However, I didn't get a good look at it before everything went downhill. I only took two steps before everything went black. 

I didn't know it yet, but I was in for intense schooling. The lessons I'd learn aren't in preparation for a bright, hope filled future. 

The core subject here is death and despair.


	2. Prologue: Into The Dark- Getting To Know You

I woke up on a plain white bed. Actually, the whole room was white, with random accenting colors, perhaps to feel more welcoming. The smell immediately identified it as the infirmary. 

“The infirmary? Right, I passed out… Maybe I stressed myself out too much.”

Determining that I was fine to get up and look around, I stood up next to the bed and examined my surroundings. There were two other beds besides the one I had been in, and they both looked unused, at least today. There were plenty of medical supplies in the cabinets as expected. There wasn’t anything unusual about the room in the slightest except for one thing on the counter closest to me. 

“What’s this?”

I picked up an envelope that didn’t quite look like the one I carried in with me and pulled out the contents. In order to calm my nerves, I read it out loud just to be sure this crayon scribbled mess was for real.

“Welcome to a brand new year at Future Light Academy! All students must report to the gym at 9:00 sharp for the entrance ceremony! I look forward to meeting all of you then!”

9:00? I turned to the clock just above the door. 8:30. Alright, I have some time to get my bearings a little better. Making that my resolve, I stepped into the hallway. I was surprised to find it totally empty. Then again, it was only the first day. Other people might not have shown up yet! I always was an early bird after all. 

I retract my previous statement. There was someone else walking down the hall, getting farther away. Perhaps they were headed to the gym too! I decided to follow to make sure I had some way of knowing I was headed in the right direction. It seemed like this person headed back to the entrance hall and joined other people. Counting in my head, it seemed to make sixteen of us in total. A nice sized class, at least that’s my opinion. 

It seemed like one of them was counting too because before I fully joined the group a girl with pigtails and mismatched red and pink eyes smiled and spoke up. 

“Lucky sixteen! Everyone's here!”

I was admittedly surprised by the abrupt end to the silence, but at the same time glad it wasn't me who had to do it. It seemed to take a bit of pressure off of the others too. The next person to speak was a boy with bright pink hair and a cat ear headband. 

“Alright! Let’s get to know each other, ‘kay? I wanna know who you guys are!”

I couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit. Even though he was clearly much bigger than me, his attitude was like an excited little kid. It was almost endearing in a way. For the most part everyone seemed on board with the idea of introductions, so it was about time to start socializing. 

I decided to take the group on in smaller sections to make deciding who to talk to first simpler. The first person was a shorter girl with orange hair and a rather unfriendly expression. 

“Hi, I'm Saki Tsukino, the Ultimate Origamist. Who are you?”

She regarded me with clearly little interest. She looked as if she was considering not responding, but she soon sighed in defeat. 

“...Mayumi Ueno. Archer. I'm going to hit the exit on this conversation.”

>Registered: Mayumi Ueno, Ultimate Archer

The next person I saw looked more friendly, yet reserved in a strange, eerie way. His hair was messy burgundy, but it still seemed neat in a way. His silver eyes were difficult to read, but had an air that wasn't hostile in the least. 

“You're confused too, right? ...I figured as much. Before you ask, my name is Hisao Tanji. I can't remember my talent right now, but I'll get back to you when I do.”

I decided it was time to move on, his expression making it seem like he wanted some time alone to think. 

>Registered: Hisao Tanji, Ultimate ???

Next was a...girl? Her hair was short and messy, and was grey with a streak fading from pink to red. She had gentle pink eyes and a splash of freckles across her nose. 

I introduced myself and she smiled. Well that was a good sign. She seemed like a nice person to be friends with. Finally she made her introduction. 

“Hey! I'm not totally sure what's happening here, but that's alright. I'm Hikaru Miyabe by the way. Officially I'm called the Ultimate Roleplayer, but to me it feels like Ultimate Thespian would've been a more fitting title…”

>Registered: Hikaru Miyabe, Ultimate Roleplayer 

With higher spirits I moved on to the blonde boy with bright pink eyes who seemed to be pretty angry about something. 

“What? I'm only here cause I have to be you know. I'm not gonna be buddy-buddy with any of you, I'm putting that out there now! If you must know, I'm Yokuto Otaki, the greatest pyrotechnician who ever lived!”

>Registered: Yokuto Otaki, Ultimate Pyrotechnician

It was my turn to hit the emergency exit and talk to someone else. Namely the girl with dark blue pigtails and golden eyes that so far was silent but looked a bit startled by Yokuto’s outburst. 

I was careful not to startle her more when I introduced myself. She seemed to appreciate it, the tension slowly draining from her shoulders. 

“...I'm Rin Kabuto… I'm the Ultimate Herpetologist. Reptiles and amphibians aren't scary, they just have a bad reputation!”

>Registered: Rin Kabuto, Ultimate Herpetologist 

I played it safe by deciding to agree and moved on. There were still more people to say hi to! I stopped at a boy who wasn't much shorter than me, with minty green hair, mismatched grey and cyan eyes and glasses. 

He looked a little skittish and nervous to introduce himself, so I gently introduced myself first to break the ice. Finally a response came. 

“I...I'm Daisuke Isago...They call me the Ultimate Roboticist...I guess it fits…”

>Registered: Daisuke Isago, Ultimate Roboticist

The next person I turned to had a very unsettling air. His hair was a dark purple and covered one eye. His eyes were the color of dried blood with a mysterious light in them. At least, the one I could see. He smiled upon my approach, and currently I couldn't decide how to feel. 

“My name is Ko Sasaki. My specialty lies on a plane parallel to our reality. I'm known as the Ultimate Medium. Contrary to what mothers tell young children, spirits are very much real and have many stories to tell. My goal is to hear them all before I join them…”

>Registered: Ko Sasaki, Ultimate Medium

I moved on, moving quick but trying not to seem rude. The girl with the brown pigtails and pink and red mismatched eyes seemed like a good person to talk to to settle down. 

She grinned and introduced herself almost immediately. 

“Hiya! Sixteen is a lucky number right? I think so! Anyway, I'm Sayuri Ainara! I'm the Ultimate Chocolatier! If you ever want something sweet, come tell me at anytime!”

>Registered: Sayuri Ainara, Ultimate Chocolatier

She seemed nice, but I had to finish talking to everyone. Next up was the boy with the cat ear headband. His everything was bright except for his deep brown eyes. 

He perked up instantly. 

“Hey! I'm the Ultimate Veterinarian, Sachihiro Roka! Feel free to call me Sachi if it's easier. I think we'll get along purr-fectly!”

I giggled softly. 

“Was that a pun?”

He grinned. 

“Yep!”

>Registered: Sachihiro Roka, Ultimate Veterinarian 

Next I approached a girl with blue hair and green eyes like mine. She seemed nice, yet a bit lost in thought. 

She refocused when I introduced myself. 

“Hello. I'm Chika Shimizu, the Ultimate Counselor. If you ever need something, don't hesitate to come to me.”

>Registered: Chika Shimizu, Ultimate Counselor

Next came a very tall boy with green hair and purple eyes, a pink surgical mask covering half his face. He seemed nervous too, so I gave him a little time. 

“My name is Yuu Gushiken...Ultimate Toxicologist...Yeah...That's all I got…”

>Registered: Yuu Gushiken, Ultimate Toxicologist 

I walked away, assuming that he wanted a bit of space. Some people needed more time to come out of their shell. I went to a boy with pink hair peeking out under a bear hoodie and almost neon green eyes, clinging to a blue teddy bear. 

He seemed eager to get his introduction over with. 

“I-I'm Kenji Seki, the Ultimate Toymaker! And my bear is Mr. Yorokobi!” 

As soon as he finished he went silent as if retreating back into a shell. 

>Registered: Kenji Seki, Ultimate Toymaker

I spoke to a girl with blue eyes and bright purple hair next. She seemed completely at ease by my presence. 

“You looking for the Ultimate Escape Artist? Congrats, you found her! The name’s Toshiko Samon! Nice to meet ya!”

>Registered: Toshiko Samon, Ultimate Escape Artist

Before I could talk to someone else, Sachi came up behind me. 

“Hey! Come on, you're forgetting someone aren't you?”

I jumped.

“Huh? I talked to you already didn't I?”

Then I turned around. It wasn't Sachi at all. Instead it was a boy with black hair, a flip on one side colored in teal, and bright orange eyes. Then there was that self-satisfied grin on his face. 

“Haha! I got you good didn't I? Yeah, I'm not the vet, sorry to lead you on. I'm Kiyoshi Nara, aka the Ultimate Voice Actor!”

>Registered: Kiyoshi Nara, Ultimate Voice Actor

With a soft laugh and a confession that I was, in fact, completely fooled I moved on to the last person left to meet. She had brown hair with three silver pins and deep blue eyes. 

“Oh, hello. I am Aika Koike. I am the Ultimate Violinist. I'd be happy to play for you anytime, so feel free to ask.”

>Registered: Aika Koike

Hisao finally came out of his own state of reflection to address the group. 

“Now that we're familiar with each other, let's deal with the issue at hand. We all remember being in this entrance hall correct?”

Everyone responded in their own way that they did, in fact, have that memory in common. 

Hisao continued. 

“Now the glaring hole. There was a door here when we arrived. Where is it?”

No one knew how to answer that. It was true, the door everyone entered through was gone without a trace, leaving behind a solid wall. 

It was Chika who answered. 

“Perhaps we gathered on the opposite end? There's a chance that the door is on the opposite side of the building.” 

Murmurs spread through the group. The idea was actually plausible. The two sides of the building could easily look the same and we could have gotten confused. 

Hikaru spoke up next. 

“The idea makes sense and all, but it's almost 9:00. I think we should see what's up in the gym before we freak out.” 

I nodded in agreement. 

“We can check the other side after the entrance ceremony ends. We shouldn't be late.”

With that we located the gym and filed in, standing around watching the podium set up, waiting for something to happen. Finally a voice rang through the gym. 

“Hello hello? Can you all hear me? Awesome, let's get this show on the road!”

Just like that a penguin popped up onto the podium, one side white with a black eye, the other black with a red eye in the shape of a frown. 

We were confused into silence. Not even the most energetic of us could figure out how to react to the penguin’s sudden appearance. 

A feeling of dread wormed its way into my gut looking at it. I didn't know why, but I had a feeling it had bad intentions. 

Sometimes I hate being right.


	3. Prologue: Into the Dark- Game On

We watched as the penguin stood up on the podium, waving a flipper at us.

“Welcome students, welcome! It’s a wonderful new year at Future Light Academy, and you are all the newest bright beacons of hope to shine upon the rest of the world! I am your headmaster Chitori, and no I am not a stuffed animal. We have a very special program for all of you in order to nurture your wonderful talents. The only catch is, the duration of this program is the rest of your lives! Fear not, the budget is absolutely amazing, endless even! There won’t be any issue regarding supplies at any time!”

To say everyone lost it would be a major understatement. Yokuto was absolutely furious.

“The hell do you mean the rest of our lives!? I’m not spending the rest of my life in some stupid school with all these people I barely know! I got better things to do with my time!”

Chitori looked angered by that declaration. 

“Oh? You say that as if you have a say in the matter. But! There is a bright side! You guys can possibly get out. All you have to do is one little thing.”

I couldn’t help it. I had to ask the question.

“One little thing? And what exactly is the ‘one little thing’ you’re referring to?”

That made the devilish creature brighten up significantly. He seemed positively ecstatic at the prospect of answering that particular question.

“It’s simple! The student who puts down one of their classmates will be allowed to leave! I really don’t care how you do it. Strangle, shoot, stab, bludgeon, anything! You guys are Ultimates, you’re creative enough to think of something interesting!”

Daisuke was trembling, which prompted Chika to go over and attempt to comfort him. However, Aika was the one to confront the penguin directly. 

“Put down a classmate? You seem to be suggesting the only way out is to commit genuine murder. That is completely illegal! Enough of these ridiculous games and tell us what is really going on!”

Chitori looked amused now. 

“Enough games? Honey, the game only just began! And you guys are all the players whether you like it or not!” 

Everyone was silent. Was that really all there was to it? We have to kill each other to return to our families, our lives outside? There’s no way anyone would do such a thing right? The idea is utterly insane! Oh! The police will surely find out we’re missing and come get us! We just have to wait for them to figure it out!

Wait… No. If this was able to progress as far as it did, there probably wasn’t anyone coming for us. That’s okay I guess. We’ll just have to stay strong and work through our time here without resorting to murder. 

Something in the corner of my mind said it wouldn’t be that easy, but I still held onto that sliver of hope that everything would work out okay in the end. I don’t think any of my classmates would be crazy enough to resort to killing someone just to leave. They couldn’t possibly be!

Chitori’s voice cut through my thoughts once again.

“I have one more special present for all of you! The handy dandy school ID! It has your information, a map, the rules, anything you could ever need that doesn’t connect to the outside world!”

I looked at the small device that Chitori passed out to all of us. I turned it on with a soft beeping sound. He wasn’t lying, there were a good deal of features on here. However convenient it was, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy holding it. There had to be some alternate purpose to this thing too, right?

“That concludes the heart pounding entrance ceremony! Have a great year and happy killing!”

With that, Chitori was gone. There wasn’t a trace of where he could’ve disappeared to, a search around the podium confirming that much. What a strange little thing. There was one thing left to do to make sure nothing gets too far out of hand.

“Everyone? I think we should take a look at the rules before we go any further…”

The idea was met with near unanimous agreement, aside from Yokuto who was insistent on forgetting the rules and trying to find an exit immediately. His desires weren’t so far fetched, but we need to know what we can’t do so we don’t get in trouble. Who knows what the “headmaster” would do if we broke one of his precious rules.

“One, all students are to reside within the confines of Future Light Academy for the duration of the program. Two, violence against Chitori or damage to the security cameras is prohibited. Three, nighttime is from 10pm to 8am. During this time the cafeteria is off limits. Four, keep track of your ID at all times. This is the key to your room and the bathrooms. Five, borrowing another student’s ID is prohibited. Six, sleeping is allowed only in the dorm rooms.”

As I read them, they seemed like pretty basic, run of the mill rules. Nothing about murder, or the “graduation”, anything like that. No, actually when I got to the seventh rule the tone started to shift.

“Seven, when three people discover a body, an announcement will follow. After this announcement the remaining students will be allowed to investigate to find the killer. Eight, one student may kill a maximum of two of their classmates. Gotta save some action for everyone else! Nine, After investigating, there will be a class trial. The remaining students will have to debate to uncover the killer. Ten, choosing the killer will be on a majority wins voting system. The student who receives the most votes will be considered the final decision. Eleven, if the correct killer is chosen, they will be punished. If the wrong student is chosen, everyone else is punished and the killer is allowed to walk free. Twelve, Chitori may add more rules as they become necessary. Failure to comply with the rules will result in swift punishment.”

Punishment… That word keeps showing up all over the rulebook. What kind of punishment is implied? Seeing the nature of the bird in charge it can’t be anything pleasant, but there wasn’t any explanation of what the punishment was. 

On the other hand, seeing as he was so eager for bloodshed, I can’t help but feel like the punishment has something to do with death… I should be extra careful to make sure I don’t break any of the rules. 

For now it was time to follow Yokuto’s lead to find an exit. We scattered around the gym in search of where Chitori could have escaped to. Everyone did their best to help in their own way, but no one seemed to be able to find a trace of the headmaster or his secret tunnels. 

We regrouped to plan out our next steps. Sayuri raised her hand, bouncing like she had an idea.

“Oh! Weren’t we going to check out the other side to look for the front door?”

I can’t believe I forgot something as simple as the front door. We moved like a small, confused teenage herd through the halls, navigating towards where we believed the front of the school to be. We didn’t recognize anything on the way, so I could tell for sure that we weren’t headed back the way we came. 

I started to doubt even that when I saw that this side lacked a front door too.

“Is this...really it? There has to be a door somewhere right?”

Everyone started to talk amongst themselves, trying to determine if this was really the truth. There seemed to be a moderately even split between people who believed there was a door and people who decided there wasn’t. 

Toshiko looked around at the rest of the group before speaking.

“Hey! Why don’t we just split up and see what’s happening around here? Cover more ground in less time, y’know?”

I have to say, that’s a pretty good idea. Maybe we should have done that from the start to make this a bit easier on ourselves. Too late for that now though. It’s about time to move forward to make the best of the situation we’re in.

We decided to split into groups of four since we had an even number to go on. I ended up joining the group with Hisao, Hikaru, and Toshiko. As a group we decided to take the eastern wing of the building. 

Almost in sync we split into our groups and went down the paths we chose, looking for a way out.


	4. Chapter 1: Eye on the Prize: DAILY LIFE- Heading East

The four of us walked to the eastern wing without much talking. We were mostly focused on getting there and checking for any sort of exit. Looking at the ways the doors were marked, I decided it would be safe to call them all classrooms. Regardless, there was no way I would overlook them. For all I knew, Chitori could have put some kind of secret exit in such a mundane room so we’d overlook it. 

The first few rooms I entered were plain old classrooms, and going off of the various posters these rooms were used for math or science. I never was a fan of either subject, I have to admit. Even still, it would be better to suffer through that than deal with whatever the horrible headmaster has in store for us. I don’t want to deal with that any longer. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t kill for the chance to escape. I’ll just do my best to ride it out the peaceful and honest way. 

I just hope everyone else decides to follow the same train of thought…

No matter, it’s time to keep moving. The next door I came across looked much different than the others I’d encountered so far. It was decorated with gears painted in silver and a large “D” in bright blue. It appeared to be important, so I decided to look inside this one more thoroughly than the last few. 

I pushed open the door and went in, each step carefully planned. There were metal pieces everywhere in all shapes and sizes. There were wires strewn everywhere and tools in various drawers and cabinets. It was probably the perfect place to build any kind of machinery. Not that I’m any kind of expert on machinery, but it seemed like a really good place for someone who wanted to build a machine to do so. 

A thought suddenly hit me. That “D” on the door and the machine parts inside? Was this room made for Daisuke? It was almost surprising, but then again this was a school for the best of the best, everyone probably had a room like this somewhere in the building. 

The room felt like it was personal in a sense, so I decided now was a good time to take my leave. Moving on, I found more classrooms, a woodshop loaded with carving tools, and a computer lab. Upon further inspection it was uncovered that none of the computers actually worked. At this rate they might as well be props. 

When I joined the rest of the group, they disclosed similar findings and a consensus was reached that we should head back to where the front entrance should have been and wait for the other groups to return. The walk was silent, the air heavy with disappointment at a lack of any useful information to share with the rest of the class. 

When we got there, it turned out we weren’t the first to return from their exploration. Sayuri, Yokuto, Chika, and Daisuke were standing around waiting for us. As I expected, Yokuto didn’t seem very happy about having to deal with Sayuri’s energy. At the same time, it seemed like Daisuke and Chika were getting along nicely, so there’s a good place to start. 

I decided to share what I found.

“So in the eastern wing-”

Yokuto cut me off there. Rude.

“Save it. We gotta wait for the others to get back anyway. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not really in the mood to hear the same thing over and over again.”

I decided to wait. As much as sharing what my group uncovered, dealing with Yokuto’s temper wasn’t very high on my to-do list.

I’m not sure how long we were standing there for; there wasn’t a clock close by to check. Besides, I’m not yet prepared to trust any clock that Chitori left lying around. For all I knew they could be completely off. There was a part of me that doubted that the penguin would bother to mess with the time like that, but there was still enough doubt left to be wary.

Anyway, some amount of time passed before the other groups came back. I took a quick glance around to make sure everyone was present and accounted for. However optimistic I was, I still felt the need to verify that for myself. 

Seeing all sixteen of us were here, I relaxed a little and waited for everyone to recount what they discovered.


	5. Chapter 1: Eye on the Prize: DAILY LIFE- Discourse Crash Course

Surprisingly enough, it was Mayumi who got everyone’s attention with a loud whistle. 

“Hey! Now that we’re all here, let’s tell everyone what we found! No leaving details out, got it?!”

On the bright side no one was disagreeing. Besides the fact that withholding information would be counterproductive, it would look awfully suspicious.

Yokuto as expected didn’t seem to be in a great mood.

“Tch. Since you’re the one trying to take charge, why don’t you get us started?”

Mayumi huffed a little. “Fine. The northern wing isn’t very useful in terms of an exit, but there seems to be a lot in there about the fine arts. Oddly enough, there seems to be a room that looks like it was custom made for someone here…”

Ko frowned. 

“Custom made? Care to elaborate?”

Mayumi nodded. “There was a large S on the door, and everything inside seemed perfect for making paper stuff… An origami room probably.”

The revelation made everyone turn to look at me. I frowned a little. What were their looks supposed to mean?

“Huh?”

Hisao looked at me evenly. I couldn’t read his expression to save my life. Luckily that wasn’t the criteria for survival…

“Simply put, a room that appears to be specially made for you in a school like this is rather strange…” 

I huffed a tiny bit. Was that all it took to put the suspicion on me?

“I found a similar room in the eastern wing you know! It had a D on it and looked like a good place to make machines… Other than that there were no signs of an exit...”

People then started turning to Daisuke. Just like that we became the most suspicious people here. I felt bad about throwing him under the bus like that, but all I wanted to do was prove that one room dedicated to a talent had nothing to do with who could be behind this “game”. On the other hand, it was a bit strange that there didn’t seem to be all that many…

My thoughts were broken by Sayuri speaking up.

“Oh! The western wing had a room like that! It looked like a mini Santa’s workshop in there! I mean, it could be Santa’s workshop… I’m not sure what the real deal looks like… And it’s got a K on the door too! No exit though...”

Santa’s workshop? That sounds like a room meant for a toymaker… So a room existed for me, Daisuke, and Kenji so far… Was there one in the southern wing?

Yuu seemed to be shifting around a tiny bit but eventually decided to voice whatever was on his mind.

“You see… The southern wing has a strange room with a K on the door as well, though I cannot comprehend the things I saw inside… I didn’t see anything about an exit either, sorry...”

I frowned.

“What did you see?”

Yuu looked at me.

“Well, there were books filled with strange symbols, and candles everywhere among other things. It felt like some sort of room from a movie featuring the paranormal…”

Everyone looked confused at that description. It made sense I guess. No one here was an expert on the paranormal. Wait, there was someone.

“Maybe that room was meant for Ko? If it features the paranormal, it would make sense for it to be a medium’s room right?”

Ko looked up and nodded slowly. “That sounds like the most appropriate conclusion…” 

Alright, so there definitely was a room in each wing dedicated to someone’s talent. While the four of us may be the most suspicious, it doesn’t really get us anywhere in terms of who’s behind this or how to get out of here. That was unfortunate, but what else could we do?

I have to confess, the person responsible for orchestrating this was pretty clever. Focusing the responsibility on four of us right off the bat was a clever way to get eyes off of them at least for now. 

The PA system crackled to life just as we were letting everything sink in. I looked to the monitor on the wall as Chitori’s voice rang through the halls.

“Attention students! The dorms are all open and ready to use at your leisure! Don’t forget to lock your doors before you go to sleep~ Enjoy!”

A silent consensus was reached to check out the dorms. They seemed to be in a ring around the rest of the building, and the doors all had a little portrait and our names on them. That was convenient at least. I hesitated a moment before stepping inside.

~FREE TIME~


	6. FREE TIME 1: Kiyoshi Nara

It seems I have a bit of time to myself. I could use it however I want I suppose. I could investigate further, but I’m not sure I want to do that without other people there to help out. Maybe I could take the time to relax! No… That would be kind of a waste of time… Oh, I have an idea! How about I go see if anyone wants to hang out for a little? I feel like handling this kind of situation is easier with other people. That’s what I’ll do!

Now then, who should I go talk to? I went out of my room, deciding to walk around and see who would be interested. I let my feet carry me where they wanted. I paused outside a room that seemed to be for audio/visual equipment hearing some unusual noises inside. Going inside, I realized it was just Kiyoshi practicing various voices. I hummed thoughtfully. Maybe he’d want to hang out?

With that in mind, I stepped inside. 

He seemed to be able to hear my footsteps over the sound of his practice, because he went quiet to look in my direction. I smiled kindly.

“Hey, Kiyoshi? It looks like you’re a bit busy, but do you want to hang out?”

Kiyoshi looked like he was thinking about it before grinning.

“Haha, sure why not? We’ve got plenty of time on our hands anyway!”

That was definitely true, even I had to admit that much. There was some discussion about where we would go before we simply settled on walking around and seeing where we ended up. We eventually encountered a nice sized rec room and decided to stop there. 

We spent a little while playing round after round of ping pong. It’s safe to say he absolutely mopped the floor with me, but I could tell we both had fun. I have a feeling we grew a little closer.

We moved to the kitchen to get some water after playing so long. Leaning on the counter, he looked as if he was thinking about something before speaking up again. 

“Yo, Saki! How’d you find your talent anyway?”

I was caught a little off guard by the question. It was kind of a serious question for such a chill looking guy. Then again, curiosity never hurt anyone. I smiled.

“My talent? My grandmother and I used to make origami on the weekends, and I just continued from there when she couldn’t come over as much. How did you do it?”

He rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. I had a feeling I was in for quite a story.

“I liked to screw around and mock people whenever they got annoyed. It kinda turned into a professional gig after a while.”

I frowned.

“Mocked people? Didn’t you get in trouble for that?”

He grinned as if he found the question amusing.

“Yep, plenty of times! Didn’t care though. It was too fun to stop!”

A faint sigh came out before I could stop it.

“That’s a bit reckless…”

He shrugged, not seeming too worried about it.

“Maybe. Well, like they always say, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ right? ...I wonder who ‘they’ are exactly. Pretty clever dudes, whoever they are!”

Well that was a tangent if I’ve ever heard one. 

“Yeah… Very clever…”

I have a feeling the road to understanding Kiyoshi will be a long one to say the least. We parted ways, and I returned to my room to regain my energy.


	7. FREE TIME 1: Kenji Seki

I headed back out of my room to look for another way to occupy myself for a while. I decided to check out some of the other talent rooms around the floor. Entering Kenji’s I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the toymaker himself was here too. He clutched his teddy bear tighter and looked at me when he noticed my presence.

Should I spend some time with Kenji? Yeah, I think I should.

We spent a while tinkering with the toys in the cabinets. I have a feeling we got a little closer today. He seemed to be hesitating to say something, so I decided to ask for him.

“Is something on your mind?”

Kenji looked up. “Huh? Oh… I was just worrying about nothing again…”

“You don’t have to worry about holding back… I won’t judge you.”

“You won’t? Well… If that’s true then I guess it’s okay…”

I nodded and smiled to reassure him. “It’s completely fine.”

“I just want to go home… That’s all… I won’t kill for it but I don’t want to be here forever…”

“Me neither… This situation doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

He frowned and looked up. “Hey…”

I tilted my head. “Yeah?”

“What do you plan to do if we get out of here..?”

“Not if, when! And… I’m not sure yet. One thing’s for sure, I won’t take anything for granted again!”

He smiled a little. “Yeah… I guess that’s true…”

We discussed our plans for the future for a little while longer before heading our separate ways. I headed back to my room, feeling mildly more energized than before.


End file.
